Hau kola na tiyospaye (Hello friends & extended family),Welcome to all new Circle members! Each section of the Circle of Nations newsletter is written 'facing' one of the four sacred winds, beginning with the east, then the south, west and finally the north. This is to honor the old ways. It is to teach and to help us to focus and find the center. I have designed the Native Circle website in the same spirit. I welcome you all to the Circle....

EAST - Wiyohinyanpata - Yellow (Four Winds)The art of compromise....My Grandfather once gave me some wise council many years ago. He said there are two things you never talk about with friends and family - religion and politics. I have adhered to that wisdom ever since, and have no plans to deter from it now. So when I begin to speak here of the politics in Washington, it is because their struggles have caused me to contemplate what is at the heart of their very human stalemate, not because I wish to have a political debate! Let’s start by thinking about the word ‘stalemate’. It’s a ‘mate’ that’s gone ‘stale’. Doesn’t sound too inviting does it? Stalemates rarely are. And so I want to speak to you about the art of compromise. I like the word compromise, because it contains the word promise, which in this case means two things. Firstly, it speaks of honor and commitment. Secondly, it speaks of hope. And it is only through honor, commitment and hope that we human beings can find a way to agree on anything as a whole, and move forward as a people. Compromise trumps stalemate whenever wisdom is present. Not one of us is all the way right all the time, so it shows great maturity and humility to concede, and meet somewhere in the middle with someone we disagree with. And by the way, the middle is where wisdom and balance live. The middle is where you need to be in order to lose the training wheels from your bicycle. The center is where we find our common ground and our common humanity. The center is that tiny place on the bottom of a spinning top that allows it to balance when it is spun. It is in that scary place in the middle, where we let go of our control and allow for the possibility of a greater good, and a bigger picture of reality. It is in the place of compromise that we find our better selves. It is also where we find Spirit. In the old Lakota way of council meetings, each voice was heard, one at a time until all who wished to offer their words had spoken. Then, after much prayer and thought, a decision would be made which would include something positive for each view. This is called consensus, and I consider it to be the key to lasting compromise. Not everyone got everything they wanted, but each got something, and that was enough to appease and to find a way to go forward as a people in a way that was honorable, respectful and wise. My friends, we will never heal our world if we cannot meet somewhere in the middle. We will never mend the hoop if we are too selfish to relinquish the illusion of control and humbly come to the center where we can find balance. Because, in the end, compromise is not about losing a battle. It is about gaining peace....

SOUTH - Itokagata - Red (Red Earth)A word from Peggy....

We are well into our hot summer. John and I just returned from Still Pointe Healing Center in Belleville Ill, where we conducted the most incredible retreat this past weekend!! It left me with a sense of how much goodness and beauty exist in our world. The WOW (Women of Wisdom) Retreat in June here in the Ozarks was a very special time also. The healing was astounding! I am so blown away by the commitment to love and honesty that I am encountering at our retreats this season. And I know many of you have come to the retreats and concerts because you have connected to us by this newsletter. It makes me so happy that you all appreciate that John and I have been sharing these tidbits of love with you for over 13 years. Some of you have shared with me that you have received all of our letters, over 150 of them. That is just way cool. And who doesn’t need cool when it is this hot!

We still have our summer specials in place… so check them out at www.johntwohawks.comOur tour schedule is growing, we will be in Michigan and Ohio in the next few weeks. From there we head to Oklahoma, Missouri, Virginia, Washington D.C. and back to Ohio again.Check out the full schedule HERE.

The Mending Medicine and World Drum weekend will be here before you know it in Oct., so get your registration in now. We are expecting an incredible weekend with many surprises!! Mending Medicine Retreat

John is currently in the studio, working on the music for his newest Christmas CD 'Heaven and Nature Sing'.He will be joined by 4 amazing artists and a large children’s choir. I am loving hearing “White Christmas” in the 100 plus degrees in Arkansas…once again sooo cool.

Looking forward to seeing many of you as we tour this summer, please let us know you are a part of our Circle of Nations familymay you be blessed,peace,Peggy

JTH here.. My friends who are on Facebook, I want to encourage you, if you haven't yet, to go to my Official Page and click the "Like" button at the top of the Page. With less than 200 to go before my profile reaches it's 5,000 friends limit, it won't be long before all my Facebook activity moves away from my profile to my Official Page. Thanks for your love and support my friends!

WEST - Wiyohpeyata - Black or Blue (We are STILL Here!)Perception is Reality....One person stood at the foot of a great mountain and thought “Why me? Why does this giant obstacle come to block the path to my dreams?” Another person stood at the foot of the same mountain and thought “Wow, I did not expect this. What a great opportunity to get a better view of the path to my dreams!” The mountain remained the same. What differed was the perception of the two who looked upon it. One was resigned to failure and disappointment. The other was primed for adventure and possibility. Perception is reality. The mountain is what it is. How we see it is a choice we make. Nothing of any real value in this life comes without challenge. Often, it takes many failures to find your way to success. And by the way, success is also a matter of perception. In fact, everything in this life is perception. Failure is perception too. We ultimately choose how we view every experience. A family elder taught me as a young boy about the check marks for wrong answers on my schoolwork. He explained to me that in our Lakota way, the idea of an ‘error’ being a ‘bad’ thing did not exist. I learned from him that, in our world view, nothing was ever truly learned without what he called ‘miss-takes’. In other words, every error was a second chance to learn! Errors were good! Again, this is perception. The greatest dreamers the world has ever known had something in common that enabled them to achieve amazing things - they all had a positive perception. So how does one come by this positive perception? Well, it is really only a two step process. First - one must choose it. A decision deep in one’s spirit must be made to see the mountain as a possibility. Second - one must become it. In this state, you no longer need to see the mountain, because you are the mountain, and the mountain is you. Thus all possibilities lie within. So embrace positive perception. Become the mountain. All the possibilities for your life path live within you. And besides, the view to your dreams is incredible up here!